Contents

His Claim

Before his claim to be the Promised Mahdi and Messiah, he was praised by Muluna Abul Kalam Azad[9] for his efforts to take action against Christian Missionaries and a Hindu movement Arya Samaj.

Mujaddid

In 1882 he claimed that he had been divinely appointed for the revival of religion and that he was the Mujaddid (reformer). This was the first time he claimed a divine office though he did not take any kind of pledge of allegiance and refused to do so stating that he had not been commanded by God[10] until 1889 he published the following revelation:[11][12]

“

Allah bless thee, O Ahmad. It was not thou who didst let loose but it was Allah Who let loose. The Most Gracious One has taught thee the Quran so that thou shouldst warn the people whose ancestors have not been warned and that the way of the guilty ones might become manifest. Proclaim: I have commissioned and I am the first of the believers. Proclaim: The truth has come and falsehood has vanished away. Falsehood is bound to vanish. Every blessing is from Muhammad on whom be Allah's peace so blessed is he who taught and he who has been taught.

„

In 1889 he declared that God had commanded him to found a community[1] and began to take the pledge of allegiance from people where they will repent of their sins, accept his claim and promise to abide by certain conditions of joining his community.[13]

In response to Islamic critics, Ahmad claimed that he came to revive Islam:[15]

“

We are Musalmans. We believe in the One God without a partner and in the Kalima, La Illah Ill-Allah. We believe in the Book of God, the Quran, in His Messenger Muhammad (peace on him and God's blessings) the Khatam Al-Anbiya. We believe in angels, the resurrection, hell and paradise. We observe the prescribed prayers and the fast. We turn to the Qibla for prayers and forbid ourselves what is forbidden by God and His Prophet and permit ourselves what is permitted. We add not a thing to the Sharia, nor subtract any thing from it. The Sharia is above change. Whatever has come down to us from the Holy Prophet (on whom peace and God's blessings), all that we accept, whether we understand or not and whether we can unravel its secrets and real meaning or not. We are believers with the Grace of God, and strict monotheist Muslims.

„

The likeness of Krishna

It is often mentioned that Ghulam Ahmad claimed to be the Hindu God Krishna.[16] This claim is arguably the most misunderstood of his claims and most often misquoted. According to Ahmad, Krishna was not God but a prophet of God and the Sanskrit term Avatar synonymous with the terms Prophet and Messenger which are popular within the Middle Eastern religious traditions. He published various revelations which he claimed to have received informing him of this, one such revelation addressing him was:

“

O Krishna slayer of swine, protector of cows, thy praise is recorded in the Gita.

In a lecture given in Sialkot in 1904 he declared that God had informed him that Krishna who had appeared among the Aryas thousands of years ago was indeed a prophet of God upon whom the Holy Spirit would descend from God but that later his teachings were corrupted and he began to be worshipped.[17] Here he claimed that he was the avatar whom the Hindus were awaiting in the latter days and that he had appeared in the likeness of Krishna invested with the same qualities.[2] and in his capacity as such he set out to explain and correct what he perceived to be the erroneous beliefs of the Hindus of his time such as the worship of many Gods and the transmigration of souls.

Reflection of all Prophets

According to Ahmadis the religious reformer prophesied in various religions was to be one and the same person who was to represent all those previous founders of various religions and that, that person was to bring all the religions under the banner of one universal religion, this according to them is Islam and the person Mirza Ghulam Ahmad who in many places declared in no ambiguous terms that he had been given the attributes of all the Prophets and that he had appeared in the spirit and power of all previous prophets.[4]

Ghulam Ahmad claimed that he had been given the qualities of all previous prophets. Explaining a revelation of his which he claimed to have received early in his mission which was:

“

He created Adam and honoured him. The Champion of Allah in the mantle of Prophets.

This revelation means that I have been bestowed some portion of the special circumstances or special qualities of all the Prophets, peace be on them, who have appeared from God beginning with Adam till the end, whether they were Israelis by descent or non-Israelis. There has not been a single Prophet of whose qualities or circumstances I have not been bestowed a portion … In this there is an indication that many people of this age resemble the bitter enemies and opponents of the Prophets, peace be on them, who had exceeded the limits in their rancor and who were destroyed by various types of torments … There has also been displayed and will be displayed the various types of aid and support which God Almighty had displayed in the case of the previous prophets.

The second advent of Muhammad

The concept of the second advent of Muhammad within some aspects of Islamic thought is primarily based on the hadith Narrated by Abu Huraira:

“

While we were sitting with the Prophet, Surat Al-Jumu'a was revealed to him, and when the Verse, ‘And He (Allah) has sent him (Muhammad) also to other (Muslims) …’ (62.3) was recited by the Prophet, I said, ‘Who are they, O Allah's Apostle?’ The Prophet did not reply till I repeated my question thrice. At that time, Salman the Persian was with us. So Allah's Apostle put his hand on Salman, saying, "If Faith were at (the place of) Ath-Thuraiya (pleiades, the highest star), even then (some men or man from these people (i.e. Salman's folk) would attain it.

Ghulam Ahmad preached that his prophethood was as a result of “complete annihilation in the love of” Muhammad and that his prophethood did not in any way infringe that of Muhammad’s because it was a part of and a continuation of Muhammad’s Prophethood, he claimed to be a reflection (Arabic: Buruz) and shadow (Arabic: Zill) of Muhammad and the second aspect of his prophethood, in that he only absorbed, reflected and exhibited the qualities and attributes of Muhammad, like the manner in which the moon reflects and exhibits the light of the sun.[5] Thus he says:

“

In short, my prophethood is due to my being Muhammad and Ahmad and not by myself: I have been vouchsafed this rank because of my complete annihilation in the Holy Prophet, and thus the sense of the expression 'Khaataman Nabiyyeen (Seal of the prophets) is not at all interfered with. But the advent of an independent prophet like Jesus Christ will certainly be at variance with it.

Thus Ghulam Ahmad considered himself as spiritually inseparable from the person of Muhammad preaching a special affinity with him and claimed that God had addressed him as Muhammad and Ahmad. Hence, according to him the reason why Muhammad called the promised Mahdi by his own name and one from among the Ahl al-Bayt (people of the house of Muhammad). Ghulam Ahmad stated:

“

He who differentiates beween me and Mustafa has neither known me nor seen me.

„

—Roohani Khazain vol 16, p.259

In his capacity as such he claimed that his mission was to lead and bring the followers of all previous prophets under the banner of the religion of Muhammad.

“

No nabi (prophet) can come after the Holy Prophet till the end of time with an independent law; likewise, no one can attain to prophethood without the mediation of the Holy Prophet and having merged his whole being into that of the Holy Prophet to the extent that he may be known as Muhammad and Ahmad in heaven.